Facebook's announcement on Monday that it plans to buy photo-sharing app Instagram rocked the web and ruffled feathers on Twitter. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom posted on the company blog that he and his team are "psyched" about the deal.

Representatives from all the major advertising agencies, plus the likes of Unilever and Nissan all turned out to hear about the new tools Facebook is launching for brands to better connect with consumers.

As a result of the financial crisis, Wall Street has taken a beating on reputation, on pay and on layoffs. At the same time, with a series of hot initial public offerings culminating in Facebook’s planned issue, Silicon Valley has developed a new allure.

After eight years, Mr.Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, has an ironclad grip on the social networking giant. He owns 28.4 percent of all Class B shares, and through a chain of agreements with other shareholders, he has voting control over at least 57.1 percent of Class B shares. The N YT reports.

A group of private exchanges has popped up in recent years to accommodate a fast-growing trading market in the private shares of the Internet companies like Twitter and LinkedIn. Facebook has driven much of this growth, emerging as the most actively traded private company by a wide margin, the New York Times reports.